


City of Sparks

by shesthesmoke



Category: Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Closer to book canon than it is to show canon, F/F, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, not that close to either
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-11 17:04:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7061770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shesthesmoke/pseuds/shesthesmoke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Izzy had rescued Clary instead of Jace?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It's Not Natural! It's... Paranormal

Clary was getting a bad vibe from this club. Well, that might be a little bit of an understatement. Between the sweaty half-naked strangers and the music, the aura itself practically knocked her over as soon as she walked in. If she hadn't been there for one of Simon’s gigs, she would have walked right out. Unfortunately, she was there for Simon, so she stayed. She moved closer to the stage, hoping to find a good spot to take pictures for the band’s website.

 

~

 

Alec sighed. He was secretly dreading the whole night. Stakeouts were annoying, but he knew better than to complain.

He walked down the hallway and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Izzy, Jace! Come on. This is incredibly time sensitive. I'm going to have to go to the club without you guys.”

Izzy let out a deep laugh from her bedroom. She knew as well as Alec did that this was an empty threat. He'd rather skip the mission all together than go into any club alone, and he'd rather die than not complete a mission.

“I'm coming, big brother,” Izzy called. She left her room, 6 inches taller thanks to the strappy heels that she wore as comfortably as bunny slippers.

Jace popped his head out of his doorway, his hair still dripping wet.

“By the angel, Jace. It's not like you're meeting the love of your life tonight. Leave your hair the way it is and get dressed. We're going in ten minutes,” Alec instructed. He rubbed the side seam of his black jeans between two fingers.

“Hey,” Izzy slapped him lightly on the shoulder, “Not everyone has the superhuman ability to not care about their appearance,” she teased. He rolled his eyes.

“Hey, I care about how I look,” argued Alec, “Just not when there are much more important things at hand.”

Jace joined them in the next thirty seconds. He fit perfectly in between his siblings. It was almost poetic.

They set out for the club.

 

~

 

Clary watched proudly as Simon and his band came on and introduced themselves. A month ago, the lineup had been such a mess that they could barely make it through a rehearsal without a fight breaking out. Thankfully, they had finally settled on Simon as the singer and lead guitarist, Maureen on drums, and a girl named Maia on bass. Clary didn’t know Maia that well, but she seemed pretty cool.

Clary took photos of the band performing until her phone died. She made her way through the crowd, over to the wall, on the off chance that there would be an outlet. There was not. There was, however, a girl, about her age, in a tight white dress garnering a fair amount of attention.

The girl was one of many dancing near the stage, but she was the only one Clary noticed. The music from the band seemed to fade away.

After a few seconds that passed by in slow motion, the girl moved away from the stage. She moved toward the other end of the club, headed for the bar. The bartender wasn't there, since this was supposed to be an all ages show. The alcohol, however, was still out. Against her better judgment, Clary followed her.

The girl passed the bar and turned, now moving towards the club bathrooms. Two guys dropped down next to her soundlessly, seemingly out of the ceiling. It would have freaked Clary out, but she'd seen weirder things. _You're probably just dehydrated_ , she told herself.

A fourth figure approached the mysterious group. This one appeared to be a young girl, maybe 12 or 13 years old. She stopped roughly five feet behind them and stuck her arm out. A blade appeared in her hand. White dress girl was the first one to react. Her bracelet slithered into her hand as she spun around on her toes, and she swung it at the child. It tied itself around the young girl’s ankle, and then White Dress yanked it. The two guys on either side of her, one with the same dark hair and one blond, moved next, in perfect sync. They each produced a glowing sword and slashed at the… the _things_ coming at them, each one a mirror image of the other. The dark haired guy disposed of his assailant first, the creature dissolving into a shower of sparks. Counting the little girl, who was now on the ground, there were about ten attackers in the room. They were humanoid in shape, but their mouths opened too widely to reveal rows upon rows of sharp teeth.

The blond guy plunged his blade into the girl, and nothing happened for a split second. Then, the girl folded in half and kicked him square in the chest with both feet. He recovered quickly, but she was on her feet faster. Each of her fingers had elongated into a foot long claw, and she was using these to swipe blindly in all directions.

Clary’s gaze darted around the room, searching for something to defend herself with. Her eyes settled on a six inch long black cylinder. It wasn't much, but she could throw it at anything that came near her.

The cylinder seemed to have other ideas. As soon as her fingers curled around it, it grew into one of the glowing blades that the others had been using. White Dress and the dark haired boy both looked over at her with shocked expressions. While Clary was sharing some awkward eye contact with them, the little girl monster came after her. She turned away and slashed in a wide arc around her. There was a flash of light, and the girl was gone.

 

~

 

Alec Lightwood knew how to sense trouble. A mundane following them on a stakeout that had turned into a fight was definitely trouble. But, she had killed a demon. With a seraph blade that had activated for her. He didn’t know what to make of that. He surveyed the scene to make sure Jace and Izzy were alright, then he checked for the mundane girl, to make sure she wasn’t bruised, bleeding, or dead. When mundies got hurt during hunts, there was paperwork. Paperwork was not fun.

The girl was gone. She had most likely gone back up towards the music. With any luck, she'd assume she'd imagined the whole thing.

Izzy bounced over to him. “Alec, did you see that? She just killed it! I don't think she was a mundane,” she enthused. Alec was back to fidgeting with the side of his jeans.

“We need to keep track of her,” he insisted, “she could be trouble. Or, she could be in trouble.” Jace snorted. Of course, Alec was the only one who worried. He was always the only one who worried.

Izzy gave him a look that she only ever gave when she wanted permission to do something that she was going to do anyway. “I could do it,” she offered.

Alec wasn't unobservant. He saw the way his sister had looked at the mundie. Things always ended up breaking when Isabelle got that look on her face. Namely, hearts (and bones). He sighed. “Fine, but keep your feelings out of it.”


	2. Chapter 2

Clary rushed back to the band, praying that no one had noticed her absence. The band had just come back on, with Maia reintroducing them as “The Chicago-Milwaukee Fuck Enclave.” The name was new.

Clary tried to focus on the music, but she kept thinking about the girl in the white dress, and the fight. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. If what she saw had actually happened, at least one of the following two things had to be true:

 

  1. Monsters were real
  2. She'd killed someone 



 

So, like any rational human being being faced with these options, she didn't think about it. She became an ordinary teenage girl watching her mildly talented best friend’s band perform, the kind of person that didn't fall in love with beautiful murderers in pretty white dresses. 

 

~

 

Izzy fiddled with the hair tie on the end of one of the dual french braids on either side of her head for the fifteen millionth time after walking into the mundane coffee shop. She was supposed to be watching out for the girl from the club, but it had been two days and she hadn’t seen her. 

The barista took her order and asked for her name when she got to the front of the line, and she replied with “Jemma.” Fake names weren’t required for undercover missions, but they were fun. She took a seat at the end of the bar and waited for her drink, noticing how the sunlight streamed in through the window and made pretty patterns on the wall. 

The barista called her name. Izzy took her drink. Then, someone bumped into her. She spilled the drink all over them. She looked up. It was the girl from the club! 

“Hey, can I talk to you?” The girl asked her insistently. She grabbed Izzy’s hand before she could say no, and lead her out of the coffee shop into an abandoned alley. 

“What the hell?” The girl shrieked. She paced in a few small circles, then ran a hand through her bright red hair. 

“Are you alright?” Izzy asked. The girl looked at her dubiously. 

“You tell me!” the girl inquired. “What happened at the club that night?” The stress was evident in her voice. Izzy’s heart ached for her. 

“What do you want to know?” Izzy asked her gently. 

“Did… did I really kill someone?” The girl's expression was pained, and her voice was small. 

“No. Well, you didn't kill a person. What you saw, what you killed, that was a demon,” Izzy explained. 

The girl stared at her in horror. “A what?”

Isabelle sighed. “There's a lot to explain. Do you know of a place we can sit down?”

“I don't want to sit down,” the girl protested meekly, “I want to go home.”

“Okay,” Isabelle agreed. Alec’s warning flashed in her mind.  _ Keep your feelings out of it _ . “Can I at least walk you home?”

The girl nodded silently. 

 

~

 

Clary’s head was spinning. She tried to distract herself by breathing evenly, but it didn't work. She kept her eyes squarely on the sidewalk in front of her as she walked as fast as she could. Then, without warning, she stopped and turned to the girl walking next to her.

“Wait,” she gasped, “What… what's your name?”

The girl looked at her strangely. “Isabelle. And you?”

“Clary.” An uncomfortable silence settled in between the two girls. 

 

~

 

Clary opened the door to her apartment slowly. At first glance, nothing seemed out of place. The apartment was eerily silent, with the exception of a rustling noise coming from the bathroom. She walked there apprehensively to investigate. What she found appeared to be a Rottweiler, digging through the various cleaning supplies underneath the kitchen sink. It backed out slowly from under the sink, and Clary screamed. The thing had two heads, with slime dripping from between them and out of each of the mouths. In place of legs, it had thick, slimy tentacles that were covered in spikes. One head snarled ominously, while the other snapped. Clary backed up against the wall.  

Abruptly, a bang sounded throughout the apartment, and Isabelle appeared in the doorway. 

“Get down!” She yelled, but it was too late. One of the creature’s tentacles lashed out, scratching Clary’s arm. 

“Fuck…” Izzy whispered. “Are you alright?” She asked Clary. Clary's arm was burning, but she nodded yes.

Izzy kicked a blade over to where Clary was. Clary activated the blade.

Weakened, the demon stumbled around drunkenly. Izzy looked over at Clary. “Ready? 1… 2… 3… Now!” both girls stabbed the demon, and it disappeared in a shower of sparks. 

Clary fell to her knees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I've decided that I'll keep updating this when it gets comments


	3. Chapter 3

“Isabelle, what the actual fuck?”

 

The man’s frantic tone of voice and burning on her inner elbow made Clary fly up into a sitting position, knocking heads with somebody who had been sitting on her bed.

 

“Ow,” said a female voice.

 

“It's alive,” said a second male voice, this one slightly farther away. 

 

Clary looked around. Isabelle was sitting on her bed, the blonde guy was leaning against a cabinet and glaring at Isabelle, and the brunette guy had just entered the room. They were all in some type of infirmary. The wound on her arm was gone, but in its place was a strange design seared into her skin.

 

“Hey, uh, what's going on? What's this? Where am I?” Clary asked tentatively.

 

The three other people in the room shared a series of quick, inconspicuous glances. Clary could tell that they were all thinking the same thing, but she didn't quite know what that was.

 

“We're in the Institute. The New York one, to be specific,” the brunette guy answered in a very businesslike manner, considering the fact that he couldn’t have been more than two or three years older than Clary. 

 

“Thanks for clearing that up,” Clary said. “Seriously, what's going on?” She tried and failed to keep her nervousness out of her voice.

 

“Well,” Isabelle paused, “How much do you remember?” Something in her voice made Clary pause. She realized for the first time that these people, or at least one of them, had been worried about her. Her next immediate thought was that she still didn't know who they were and therefore had no reason to trust them. She didn't even know their names.

 

“Who are you guys?” Clary asked.

 

“I'm Isabelle,” Isabelle answered. 

 

“I'm Jace,” the blonde guy added.

 

Everyone's attention turned to the brunette. “Alec,” He said stoically.

 

“We're shadowhunters,” said Izzy. “We protect the human world from the demon world.”

 

Clary swung her legs off the side of the bed that Isabelle wasn't sitting on and planted both feet firmly on the ground. She stood up. “Demons… wha-” Suddenly, she felt shaky and had to sit down. Her head was spinning. “In the apartment… Where's my mom?” Clary asked. Isabelle opened her mouth, but paused. Jace and Alec exchanged a look. 

 

“She wasn't in the apartment,” said Jace. He didn't really seem particularly concerned. 

Clary’s heartbeat started to race. She couldn't think straight. She immediately got up and started walking towards the open doorway. Before she got there, another man blocked her way.

 

“Clarissa? My name is Hodge Starkweather. Come with me,” the man told her. He started walking down a hallway. Clary looked back to Isabelle, who nodded for her to follow Hodge. She followed him down the hall, noticing that the other three had sprung up into a sort of formation around her, with Isabelle on one side, Alec on the other, and Jace behind them. 

 

The group could have walked for hours and Clary wouldn't have noticed, since she was so busy admiring the architecture. Every door in the hallway had an enormous stone arch with an ancient looking wooden door behind it. The tiles they walked on actually formed a mosaic with three designs that showed up over and over in countless different forms: a cup, a sword, and a mirror. In many of the scenes, an angel was holding one or all of the objects. Clary made a mental note to ask someone about it when they got to wherever they were going. 

  
Finally, the four of them arrived at a frankly excessive set of glass doors. Behind them were rows and rows of bookshelves of ancient volumes that looked as though they stretched back for miles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyy I'm back!! so I have this and two other WIPs that I'm interested in finishing. From this point forward, AT LEAST one of them will be updated every Sunday


	4. IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please read!!

Hey! I recently got hit with a huge burst of inspiration to continue (and possibly finish) this fic. However, continuing in the way that i want would require major major major revision of chapters 1, 2, and 3. What I've decided to do is start over in a different work. When that new fic is up, i will put that here so anyone who subscribed can stay in the loop. Thanks for reading! (Also you can comment any questions you may have)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm not that good at updating regularly. Anyone who read The Stars Are Brighter can attest to this. However, school is ending for me pretty soon so I might update more then. 
> 
> (If this stops updating, check my page. I probably started something else)


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